Advertisement
Advertisement
Banking & finance
Get more with myNEWS
A personalised news feed of stories that matter to you
Learn more
Zhao Changpeng, founder and chief executive officer of Binance attends the Viva Technology conference. Photo: Reuters

Binance’s founder CZ sues Modern Media for libel as the richest man in the cryptocurrency world steps up action to defend his reputation

  • Zhao Changpeng, the founder and chief executive of Binance who is also known as “CZ,” has filed a writ at the Hong Kong High Court against Modern Media
  • Modern Media is the publisher of the Chinese edition of Bloomberg BusinessWeek in Hong Kong under a licensing agreement

The head of Binance has issued a lawsuit against Modern Media in Hong Kong for allegedly making defamatory statements on the cover of a Chinese magazine, as the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange steps up actions to defend its reputation amid a recent cryptocurrency rout.

Zhao Changpeng, founder and chief executive of Binance and known as “CZ” in the cryptocurrency community, has filed a writ at the Hong Kong High Court against Modern Media, alleging that the July 6, Chinese-language edition of the Bloomberg BusinessWeek magazine contained defamatory statements.

The claim centres on the July 6 issue’s original cover story with a portrait of Zhao and the headline “Zhao Changpeng’s Ponzi scheme,” published online and in hard copy. The original cover was subsequently removed from the magazine’s website.

Modern Media is the publisher of the Chinese edition of Bloomberg BusinessWeek in Hong Kong under a licensing agreement it has had with Bloomberg since June 2013. It is listed in Hong Kong and in January changed its English name to Meta Media.

The article in question was translated from Bloomberg’s June 23 article headlined “Can Crypto’s Richest Man Stand the Cold?” Bloomberg was not party to Zhao’s suit, and a spokesperson of the New York-based media organisation said that the lawsuit “refers to a headline that was not published in the original English-language version of the story.”

Modern Media declined to comment.

Terra project was ‘mismanaged’ on hindsight, Binance founder says

Zhao, whose net worth was estimated at US$96 billion in January by Bloomberg before a recent crash which has slashed two-thirds of market value from all cryptocurrencies, is represented by the law firm Sidley Austin in Hong Kong.

“These statements were defamatory, and were calculated to hold the plaintiff up to hatred, contempt and ridicule,” according to the writ, a copy of which was seen by the Post. The statements tend to “lower the plaintiff in the estimation of right-thinking members of society, and in particular the cryptocurrency community members and his commercial counterparties,” the writ states.

Zhao is seeking an injunction that restrains Modern Media from republishing the statements, is demanding an apology directed at himself, and a public retraction of the statements in question. Zhao is also seeking unspecified damages.

Binance, which was fined €3.3 million (US$3.4 million) this month by the Dutch central bank for offering services to Dutch citizens without the required registration, has been seeking to defend its reputation amid increased scrutiny of the cryptocurrency industry.

Binance set to launch cryptocurrency services in Middle East after winning several licences

In 2020 Binance sued Forbes Global Media after it published an article that described a plan by the exchange to bypass US regulations. Binance later voluntarily withdrew the lawsuit in 2021.

The exchange has successfully gained regulatory approvals in several markets. In May, its registration as a digital asset service provider was approved in Italy and France, although the French regulator has faced a backlash from some lawmakers there after warnings previously issued by other regulators, such as Hong Kong, Singapore, and the UK.

Binance is also establishing a headquarters in Dubai, as it attempts to impose greater order on its sprawling operations. Zhao has also shown interest in taking stakes in the media sector as a potential platform for his cryptocurrency business as Web 3 – a new iteration of the internet based on decentralisation, blockchain and token-based economics – takes off.

In an earlier interview with South China Morning Post, Zhao said Binance was still hoping to make a minority investment in Forbes, despite an original plan to invest in the century-old media firm through a special purpose acquisition company (Spac) being called off in May.
Post